Tuesday, 13 June 2017

Star ratings restored for Ponyfic Roundup

For the most recent Ponyfic Roundup, I experimented with not having star ratings. The weight of feedback was heavily in favour of having the ratings, and as such I have decided to go back to the way I've been doing things for ages. Star ratings have also been retrospectively awarded for the four fics I reviewed then. Happily, it was a good week! I've added them to the Ponyfic Roundup post, but for convenience here's a summary:

8 comments:

My own experience with giving star ratings is that, for all that they're a pain and occasionally make me feel really self-conscious, readers really appreciate having them. Plus, they can be a real boon on those occasions when you have a good story that nevertheless requires some focus on its negative elements to properly review (or vice-versa, though I find that that's less common).

In any event, they give readers something specific to react to, and the usefulness of that shouldn't be underestimated. Even when it does end with you staring at your screen for ten minutes, weighing the difference between giving a fic two or three stars, all the while painfully aware of how silly a thing it is for you to be paralyzed over.

Even when it does end with you staring at your screen for ten minutes, weighing the difference between giving a fic two or three stars, all the while painfully aware of how silly a thing it is for you to be paralyzed over.

Um... I have no idea what you're talking about. None at all. No siree. *cough* <_< >_>

What I liked about using a numerical rating is that it helped me focus on my overall impression of the fic. I almost always had a rough estimate of how a fic would rate after I finished reading, and whenever I would start praising a lot a fic that really didn't excite me too much, I would have to stop and ask myself: why? It helps after a while also, since you can stop and ask questions such as "Is this really as good/better than X fic?"

Still, if I ever manage to go back into writing reviews, I would probably go for a similar "5 levels" rating system. If nothing else, it would be less drama prone.

Sure, I get that too. The one thing that's a pain is what Chris mentioned, that deciding the rating for a borderline fic can really get to me!

I've been lucky not to attract much in the way of drama for my ratings, though I think that's largely because: a) I post reviews here rather than on Fimfiction, and b) not many people know who I am. :P

That'd just make it harder! If the difference between two and three stars can be difficult, I don't even want to think about trying to decide whether to give a borderline fic two versus two and a half!

Like Pasco said elsewhere on Logan's site, you don't want more discernment in your rating options than you're actually capable of applying. For me, five levels of distinction is more than enough. I have no trouble believing that some reviewers could do a ten-point system justice; maybe some could even use a twenty-point system (e.g. 1-10 with half-points) effectively. But I'll stick with fewer and broader, thank you very much!